Around the League - 2023/24

[LOFIN]

I very much liked what Treliving did for the Leafs during the offseason. He still left the d-corps WIP, but I figured they can fix it during the season. I thought there was way less risk involved in their offseason moves compared to us. But as someone who really enjoys when Canadian teams (especially the Leafs and the Oilers) suck, I don't mind it the Leafs strugles at all.

Domi? For 3mil, I thought that would be a great add. 6 points in 13 games is not nearly enough.

Bertuzzi? A slam-dunk for 5.5mil to top-6. 4 points in 13 games. I get that he was injured a bit, but still odd considering the playoffs he had.

Reaves? He's not an NHL player anymore, but I still didn't think he would be THAT bad, and I thought his locker room/bench presence would offset some of that. Instead the team got embarrassed against the Bruins, nevermind his stupid comments after the game ("If I had been on the ice...").

And then there's Klingberg. How he got 4mil after last season is beyond me, but I thought the Leafs would be a prime opportunity for him to bounce back. Instead, he's going to be healthy scratched and the Leafs are basically going to play 2 AHL defencemen instead of him in the bottom pairing.

Domi and Bertuzzi will probably come around eventually. But that D-corps is just atrocious. Treliving has to figure out something. And seems like their goaltending is (surprise surprise) suspect as well.

Everyone is focusing on the Oilers and the Sens as the dumpster fires in Canada. A bit on Calgary as well probably. But the Leafs are actually looking worse than to start last season. Delicious.

 

[UncleRisto]

6 in 13 for Domi is right on pace.

 

[LOFIN]

6 in 13 for Domi is right on pace.

Not really. It's not like we are talking of Huberdeau here, he has only had worse pace in 1/8 of his previous NHL seasons. He's on pace for 20 less points than last season.

 

[NOTENOUGHRYJOTHINGS]

Not really. It's not like we are talking of Huberdeau here, he has only had worse pace in 1/8 of his previous NHL seasons. He's on pace for 20 less points than last season.

He's pacing for almost 40 points and making 3 millions?

If you want a middling winger to provide offense it's good value for cap hit.

Should Toronto have acquired more middling scoring wingers? Only time will tell.

 

[Balthazar]

Leaf fans blame their misfortune on having 4 players taking 50% of the cap space.

And they aren't wrong. In the salary cap world you can't have too many players paid like stars even if they are very good.

 

[Pokecheque]

Toronto obviously made a whole series of mistakes that's led them to this point, Treliving just up and did in Toronto what he did in Calgary, which is blow precious cap space on middling depth players.

I've been clear that I have never exactly been a fan of Morgan Rielly but he ain't even close to being the problem with the Leafs' blueline at present.

 

[henchman21]

The Leafs didn't push hard enough early in their window and are paying the price now.

 

[Balthazar]

The Leafs didn't push hard enough early in their window and are paying the price now.

Their top players never took the slightest discount, even straight out of ELC they wanted UFA money.

It all started with the Tavares signing.

 

[henchman21]

Their top players never took the slightest discount, even straight out of ELC they wanted UFA money.

It all started with the Tavares signing.

That's why they should have pushed harder. They really should have pushed in 2018, but especially in 2019 once they had Tavares. They had an immediate chance there to pull off a Hawks like first Cup and they went the route of patience and waiting.

 

[Pokecheque]

Their top players never took the slightest discount, even straight out of ELC they wanted UFA money.

It all started with the Tavares signing.

Signing Tavares for $11 million AAV right around the same time their core three forwards were all up for new deals pretty much blew up in their faces, but they still could have made the right moves and made a bigger push. Signing an aging Patrick Marleau, sticking way too long with a continually injured and shaky Freddy Andersen, and sticking way, way, WAY too long with Babcock pretty much did them in.

But yes, signing Tavares when we now know a team can win a championship with Nazem Kadri as their second-best center ended up being a very, very dumb move. Regardless, the moment that contract was signed they should've pushed all the chips to the center of the table. They didn't.

 

[Balthazar]

Signing Tavares for $11 million AAV right around the same time their core three forwards were all up for new deals pretty much blew up in their faces

Everyone outside of Long Island thought at the time that it was a good move and a big win for Toronto.

What nobody anticipated, however, was how Marner and Matthews would react to that signing.

 

[Pokecheque]

Everyone outside of Long Island thought at the time that it was a good move and a big win for Toronto.

What nobody anticipated, however, was how Marner and Matthews would react to that signing.

Eh, I thought they'd benefit too, but I also didn't think it was a massive upgrade on Kadri, whom I liked even back then.

If they had only a Kampf-level center behind Matthews then getting a guy like Tavares would be a no-brainer. But they had a perfectly capable 2nd line center already under contract, and they had him at a discount too.

The top players demanding top dollar is not what did them in. You could argue made the window narrower but it most certainly did not close it before it even opened. As Henchy has stated, just standing pat once those deals were in place was what did it.

 

[henchman21]

Everyone outside of Long Island thought at the time that it was a good move and a big win for Toronto.

What nobody anticipated, however, was how Marner and Matthews would react to that signing.

It still was a great signing (people forget how good Tavares was the first couple years)... the issue though is you still tied yourself into a shorter window. At the time Tavares should have had ~3 years left before regression really started to take hold and where that would eat away from excess contract value. It turned out that was more 2 years than 3 years and by that time they had to pay the young stars who demanded top money.

IMO they should have pushed much harder in 17-18 and 18-19 they should have been all in. Instead they waited until 2021 to really push chips into the middle. The biggest mistakes teams make with cores is simply not feeding them early enough. You absolutely can win with core guys on ELCs if you have the right ones and are willing to take the risk.

If you have the main pieces for a window, you should be pushing to win immediately.

 

[GeoRox89]

It still was a great signing (people forget how good Tavares was the first couple years)... the issue though is you still tied yourself into a shorter window. At the time Tavares should have had ~3 years left before regression really started to take hold and where that would eat away from excess contract value. It turned out that was more 2 years than 3 years and by that time they had to pay the young stars who demanded top money.

IMO they should have pushed much harder in 17-18 and 18-19 they should have been all in. Instead they waited until 2021 to really push chips into the middle. The biggest mistakes teams make with cores is simply not feeding them early enough. You absolutely can win with core guys on ELCs if you have the right ones and are willing to take the risk.

If you have the main pieces for a window, you should be pushing to win immediately.

Thank God they didn’t push earlier but they absolutely did blow it. It’s funny because we’re a long ways into the cap era and still many teams don’t do the most they can to maximize superstars on ELCs.

The Hawks lucked out that Toews’ and Kane’s second contracts were before star RFAs started getting massive paydays and that Keith had his now illegal long term backdiving contract. Of course it also worked out well for them that they had Keith, Seabrook and Hammer before drafting Kane and Toews. Doesn’t seem like they’ll have the same fortune with Bedard’s ELC but stranger things have happened

 

[Pokecheque]

Thank God they didn’t push earlier but they absolutely did blow it. It’s funny because we’re a long ways into the cap era and still many teams don’t do the most they can to maximize superstars on ELCs.

The Hawks lucked out that Toews’ and Kane’s second contracts were before star RFAs started getting massive paydays and that Keith had his now illegal long term backdiving contract. Of course it also worked out well for them that they had Keith, Seabrook and Hammer before drafting Kane and Toews. Doesn’t seem like they’ll have the same fortune with Bedard’s ELC but stranger things have happened

Give Chicago credit though, they did indeed go for it with massive contracts for Soup and Hossa, and they didn't hesitate to snag Quenneville the moment he became available.

There was some contract luck, yeah, just like there was with Colorado and MacKinnon, signing a multi-year deal for just-okay money and then having him break out the following season. But for the most part

Frankly I still say Toronto shored up the wrong weakness when they splurged. The problem IMO was not up front, it was on the back end. Going in assuming Rielly was a legit #1 was always a mistake. Not that you can just wait around for the next Cale Makar to show up, but they could've done a ton better somehow finding a really good #2 to the point where Rielly's many defensive shortcomings weren't as big an issue.

 

[The Moops]

The Leafs didn't push hard enough early in their window and are paying the price now.

Luckily this core got a cup, or we'd be having the same conversation

 

[GeoRox89]

Give Chicago credit though, they did indeed go for it with massive contracts for Soup and Hossa, and they didn't hesitate to snag Quenneville the moment he became available.

There was some contract luck, yeah, just like there was with Colorado and MacKinnon, signing a multi-year deal for just-okay money and then having him break out the following season. But for the most part

Frankly I still say Toronto shored up the wrong weakness when they splurged. The problem IMO was not up front, it was on the back end. Going in assuming Rielly was a legit #1 was always a mistake. Not that you can just wait around for the next Cale Makar to show up, but they could've done a ton better somehow finding a really good #2 to the point where Rielly's many defensive shortcomings weren't as big an issue.

They definitely needed to go for D instead. McDonagh would’ve been a great add back in 17-18 if they’d been aggressive on it. If they hadn’t screwed their cap with Tavares then Pietrangelo as a UFA would’ve fit the bill but a little later than ideal. I’m sure other guys that could’ve been a competent partner for Reilly and then getting a stronger second pairing were also options but those are the two obvious ones that could’ve been difference makers for them

 

[Bill Peckerskull]

That might just very well be the final nail in the coffin if it happens.

Johnston is reporting it's 50/50 that Kane goes to Toronto... but there's only a 10% chance of that.

 

[henchman21]

For the love of god, keep Newhook at wing.

 

[John Mandalorian]

That might just very well be the final nail in the coffin if it happens.

Canadian Mediaspeak Decoded:

real possibility = long shot = unrealistic possibility

real possibility = unrealistic possibility

 

[Balthazar]

For the love of god, keep Newhook at wing.

What happened?

 

[henchman21]

What happened?

He’s simply playing so much better at wing over the last 3 games I’ve watched. In this game he made a nice play to transition the puck and feed for a goal. He’s more involved and effective at the wing.

 

[John Mandalorian]

He’s simply playing so much better at wing over the last 3 games I’ve watched. In this game he made a nice play to transition the puck and feed for a goal. He’s more involved and effective at the wing.

Like Monahan, he’s Murtoning.

 

[the_fan]

Wheeler has one assist and minus 4 in 12 games for the Rangers. Talk about Drouin struggling, what about Wheeler?

 

[McMetal]

Leaf fans blame their misfortune on having 4 players taking 50% of the cap space.

And they aren't wrong. In the salary cap world you can't have too many players paid like stars even if they are very good.

I'm not sure that's precisely what's doing them in right now. I think the problem is that all of the players that they're investing big money in are forwards. I think if you swapped, say, Marner out on their roster with a hypothetical identical level of defenseman making the same money their problems wouldn't be so dire. They're top heavy as a team, but the lack of roster balance is a bigger issue.

I understand why they thought they could get away with skimping on the blueline. The Pens had just won two in a row with a mediocre defense and a pair of superstar centers. But I think that was an anomaly, you need star power and depth on defense to win it all in most cases. Tampa had Hedman and McDonagh, Vegas had Pietrangelo and Theodore, The Avs had Makar and Toews. You just can't make that part of your roster an afterthought, and now the Leafs are no longer in a position where they have the assets or cap space to easily fix it.